Maryland Striped Bass Habitat Suitability for January 2026

The MD DNR logo, featuring a heron flying across a sun towards a pine tree over water. It is drawn with heavy lines.
App Instructions

Suitable habitat criteria for Striped Bass, Blue supports normal growth (less than 82.4F and greater than 4mg/L DO), Yellow indicates tolerable habitat (between 82.4 and 84.2F and 3-4mg/L DO, ORange indicates marginal habitat (between 84.2 and 86F and 2-3 mg/L DO, Black indicates unsuitable habitat (greater than 86F and less than 2 mg/L DO.
Striped bass squeeze is a hypothesis that when temperatures on the surface of the water heat, and O2 is depleted on the bottom, striped bass will be squeezed into the middle of the habitat.
Chesapeake Bay Bottom Map